- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Cotton braid for women's shawl
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 2003
- Date collected
- 3 February 1989
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 2003
- Materials and processes
- Material Cotton Seed Fibre Yarn Plant, Material Pigment, Process Braided, Process Twined Woven, Process Dyed
- Dimensions
- Length 124 mm twined braided band wrapped around stick
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 2003.9.266 Other numbers: No field collector's number
- Research and responses
Extracts from 'Traditional Spinning and Weaving in the Sultanate of Oman' by Gigi Crocker Jones, Published by the Historical Association of Oman, March 1989. On Braid Looms and shawl braids, pg. 41: 'This loom was seen in the late 70s at Adam, Wadi Bani Khalid and Al Khadhra Yal Saad on the Batinah and was used by the pit loom weavers. Often the small harness is suspended from a tripod, so the loom may be carried anywhere. At Al Khadhra the warp stretched from wall to wall of the weaver's palm frond room. A temporary cord was spaced parallel to the main warp ends to hold the edge of the fringe, and this was attached to the main warp at intervals with clothes pegs. The small harness is suspended from a wall to wall bar above the weaver. The weaver sits on the floor with a pedal under each knee. He changes his shed by alternately raising and lowering each knee. This leaves his left hand free to insert the weft through the warp ends, across the space to the cord, around and back through the warp ends and his right hand to beat in the weft. He could weave three or four lengths of forty-four centimetres in one day 'if he was sitting down to it'. For one length he received one rial, hardly a comparable wage. Once off the loom the fringe of the braid is finished by the woman purchaser. Each loop is pulled taut, and given a twist between the hands. The braid is then stitched to the edge of the shawl. This loom, previously used by men, is also used nowadays by women, as seen recently at the Sabco centre in Muscat where women from Ibra were demonstrating their skills. Again a narrow warp is stretched out travelling through the harness suspended either on a tripod or from a beam above. The warp ends of a loin cloth or woman's shawl are used as the weft of the braid. In this way a braid can be woven directly on to the cloth rather than stitched on to it.' [RJ 27/3/2003]
2003.9.266
Cotton braid for women's shawl
2003.9.266
Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
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